Where Am I?

A Churn Dash Work-in-Progress

I've been spreading myself thin....now, there's an oxymoron if there ever was one! Let me re-phrase that and get back to my original train of thought!

My time has been spread thin these past few days on several different projects. I did get enough of one project completed - my Churn Dash Quilt - to get a few pictures this morning. I selected some delicious Brandon Mably and Kaffe Fassett fabrics along with Kona in aqua for my Churn Dash. Here are 9 blocks of 42 on the design wall.

I decided on 9 1/2" blocks....here's how I make a two-fabric churn dash quilt block:

I have a very simple method of determining the size to cut the squares for a half-square triangle block. First, determine the size of the finished square...in this case, it is 3". To that add 1". I therefore will cut for each of my churn dash blocks, two background fabrics and two focus fabrics at 4" square. Lay the background fabric and focus fabric rights sides together. Draw a diagonal line corner to corner on the background fabric. Sew 1/4" on either side of the drawn line. Cut on the drawn line. Press to the focus fabric.

With my square ruler, I lay the diagonal line of the ruler on the diagonal line of the HST and trim my block to 3 1/2". It takes a little more time, but each one is perfectly square using this cutting and trimming-rule-of-thumb.

Now to make the bars that separate the HSTs....Again, I determine the number and size needed for my block. I know I need four bar blocks and I know they need to be 3 1/2" square.....so, again, allowing myself fudge room for trimming, I cut background and focus fabric strips at 2 1/4" x 16". Sew the two strips together, and trim to 3 1/2". The background will be 1 3/4" as will the focus fabric for a perfectly symmetrical 3 1/2" block. Now, sub-cut into (4) 3 1/2" blocks.